A New European

Speaking at the annual policy conference for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, Ms. Rice said to thunderous applause, “Ladies and gentlemen, the Middle East is changing and even the unelected leaders in Tehran must recognize this fact. They must know that the energy of reform that is building all around them will one day inspire Iran’s citizens to demand their liberty and their rights. The United States stands with the people of Iran.”

Ms. Rice’s remarks could signal that the Bush administration is growing impatient with the stalled European-led negotiations with Iran over its nuclear program.

After Ms. Rice’s remarks, Rep. Jane Harman, a Democrat from California, suggested in a public discussion that America work through the U.N. Security Council to entice the Iranians to abandon their nuclear ambitions. For this suggestion she was booed by the pro-Israel activists in attendance. When her discussion partner, American Enterprise Institute scholar Richard Perle, suggested that America work to support the grass roots opposition in Iran, he met applause. Ms. Harman, who is the ranking member of the House Intelligence Committee, concurred with Mr. Perle’s recommendation.

Mr. Perle then told the lunchtime crowd at the Washington Hilton that he was about to contact one of the leaders of the July 9, 1999, demonstrations in Tehran. The leaders are honored each year by the opposition. At the event, he said he would tell Ahmad Batebi, who has recently been released from Evin Prison, that Ms. Harman too supported his cause to unseat the unelected regime in his country. Mr. Batebi was imprisoned after he appeared holding up a bloody T-shirt on a 1999 cover of the Economist. Since then, the photo has graced many opposition posters and Web sites.

During a later interview, Mr. Perle said that he had spoken five times with Mr. Batebi, who has contacted him through intermediaries, for months.

Mr. Perle said that through his conversations with Mr. Batebi, he is persuaded that the opposition in Iran yearns to hear the kind of words Ms. Rice said yesterday. “They are hoping to get a message through to the administration, they need moral support, there has been no suggestion that they want military intervention or anything like that. They want Americans to know they have been deprived of basic human rights and want Americans to support them,” Mr. Perle said.

Im Commonwealth Club in San Francisco war sie noch deutlicher:

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has described Iran as “probably the most important state sponsor of terrorists” and said it is in that context that its quest for nuclear weapons attracts unfavorable attention from the US.

“It is also Iranian behavior on other fronts. We’re talking about a country that does have abominable human rights record, we’re talking about a country where an un-elected few continue to suppress the desires of its people for democratic elections, most recently, with the Guardian Council deciding who can run for president and who can’t run for president,” Rice said during a speech at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco.

“And this is a country - and we really want to underscore this - that is out of step in terms of its support for terrorists,” she said.

“The Iranians are probably the most important state sponsor of terrorists, including the terrorists who are doing their best to frustrate the hopes of the Palestinian people for a state.”

Es wird von Tag zu Tag ungemütlicher für die Mullahs. Passend dazu meldet Jerome Corsi, Author von Atomic Iran, dass Washington angeblich Demonstranten und Oppositionelle aktiv unterstützen will:

The names and faces of Iranian students planning demonstrations against the radical cleric-led regime will be made known to the White House to help ensure their protection, according to “Atomic Iran” author Jerome Corsi.

Corsi, now in the closing stages of the 200-mile “Iran Freedom Walk” from Philadelphia to Washington, said he called the offices of President Bush and Vice President Cheney and received support for the plan.

“By making the names and faces public, it makes it a lot harder for the Iranian mullah leadership to beat, imprison or kill the protesters,” Corsi said.

“People who fast in Iran are risking their lives,” Corsi said. “Now, I’ve given them an identity to the government of the United States at the top level. To my knowledge, this has never happened before. If your son or daughter is imprisoned, and it’s going out over the wires, your son or daughter is protected.”

Corsi said the names and photographs are being sent via e-mail from Iran, where millions are able to follow the walk through daily coverage by media outlets including the Voice of America.

Auch andersweitig unterstützt Washington Dissidenten, wie es halt geht:

The Bush administration is expanding efforts to influence Iran’s internal politics with aid for opposition and pro-democracy groups abroad and longer broadcasts criticizing the Iranian government, administration officials say.

The efforts are being carried out quietly to avoid provoking Iranian leaders, officials say, adding that they reflect the administration’s frustration over stalled diplomatic efforts to get Iran to dismantle what the West suspects is a nuclear weapons program and to end its support for Islamic militant groups.

R. Nicholas Burns, under secretary of state for political affairs, called the expanded efforts a “second track” paralleling diplomatic initiatives on Iran’s support for terrorism and its nuclear program. He said the administration was “taking a page from the playbook” on Ukraine and Georgia. In those countries, the United States gave money to opposition and pro-democracy groups, some of which later supported the peaceful overthrow of the governments in power.

Asked whether American funds may soon go to groups inside Iran, Mr. Burns said: “We’re certainly not there yet, because we don’t have a platform to do it, and the country isn’t free enough to do it. It’s a much more oppressive environment than Ukraine was last autumn, during the Orange Revolution.”

Und während sich die gesamte Welt über den Amnesty-Bericht, in welchem Guantanamo Bay mit den Gulags gleichgestellt wird, ereifert, ignorieren sie den Teil über den Iran. Oder ist dies einfach Buisness as usual? Dürfen die Mullahs foltern, weil sie Mullahs sind?

“Scores of political prisoners, including prisoners of conscience, continued to serve prison sentences imposed following unfair trials in previous years”, the report noted. “Scores more were arrested in 2004, many in connection with press articles or publications both in print and on the Internet which were alleged to ‘endanger national security’ or defame senior officials or religious precepts. Many of the families of those arrested also faced intimidation”, the rights groups said.

“The death penalty continued to be handed down for charges such as ‘enmity against God’ or ‘morality crimes’ that did not reflect internationally recognizable criminal charges”, it said.

“Torture continued to be routine in many prisons”, Amnesty’s report added.

Free Iran! Much faster, please!